Wednesday, December 9, 2020

December 9th Latin of the Day - "dis volentibus" etc.

dis volentibus (more common, shortened form of deis volentibus)

"with the gods being willing," "if the gods are willing," "gods willing"

This expression is a Latin construction called an Ablative Absolute which has no exact parallel in English. Both the Latin words are in the Ablative case. 

The equivalent expression for a single god would be deo volente, the Christian expression is normally rendered with a capital d: Deo volente = "God willing." 

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